


tearing love apart

by realisations



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Toddlers, What Have I Done, What Was I Thinking?, security blankets, the prequel to mary lou's leaf obsession, this is an attempt at explaining how that happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2020-10-18 14:33:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20640737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/realisations/pseuds/realisations
Summary: a well-meaning gesture by mary lou's mother leaves lasting scars.





	tearing love apart

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much to dragon (dragon_moonx) for contributing to the conversation that eventually led to this.

There was nothing truly special about the blanket Mary Lou's mother swaddled her in as a newborn, except for the fact that it was green and looked a bit like a leaf. (Or, rather, it made a baby wrapped in it look like a little leaf.) But it was Mary Lou's most treasured possession for as long as she could remember.

By the time she was a year old, Mary Lou had learned to shout, "No!" whenever it seemed someone might take her blanket, though no one ever did. And by the time she was two, she had named it Leafy and forbade anyone but herself to touch it, even when it needed washed.

To say Leafy was well-loved was an understatement. Mary Lou carried her blanket everywhere, to dinner, to the bathroom, to bed. And whenever she went out, Leafy came along, cradled in her little arms as she couldn't bear to let it touch the ground.

Mary Lou's mother didn't quite approve of the relationship between her daughter and her blanket. At the same time, though, there was nothing to worry about. Mary Lou was only two years old. She had plenty of time to grow out of it.

But in time, the connection only grew. Mary Lou gradually began to act as if her blanket was another member of the family. If her mother asked if she wanted lunch yet, she would consult with Leafy before answering. It might have been endearing if this were, for instance, an infant sibling Mary Lou talked to and tried to include. But it seemed she had grown attached to a lump of colorful fabric.

Enough was enough.

Mary Lou's mother decided to give her daughter until her third birthday to give Leafy up on her own. If this failed, she would take it away. If she simply told her that blankets were for babies and it was time for Mary Lou to be a big girl, perhaps she'd dismiss it as something best left behind and focus her attention elsewhere.

The promised date came and went, and the new three-year-old was just as attached as ever. It pained Mary Lou's mother to know what she would have to do, but it was what was best for her daughter.

So when a worried-looking Mary Lou wandered into the room one morning, asking where her blanket was, her mother sighed as she told her daughter the truth.

"I had to take it away, Mary Lou," she said, glancing down at her. "You're three years old now. You don't need it anymore."

"Yes, I do!" Mary Lou responded, glaring at her mother. "Give it back!"

"I don't have it to give back to you."

As she realized what this meant, Mary Lou's eyes filled with tears, fueled by anger and sadness. She collapsed to the floor, her sniffles turning into wails.

"You stop that right now, young lady!" Somewhere, Mary Lou registered her mother's voice. But she couldn't stop crying even if she wanted to.

It wasn't even the loss of her blanket that pained her so (though it had been her soft, green salvation for three years.) What really stung was that the message it sent was clear: through some fault of hers, Mary Lou's mother didn't love her anymore.

It left behind a hole in Mary Lou's heart, one that would never truly be filled. And it would last for the rest of her life.

-end-


End file.
